mjmooney

A sequence of "answer songs": Neil Young "Alabama" (or "Southern Man") Lynyrd Skynyrd: "Sweet Home Alabama" - Skynyrd singing about Neil Warren Zevon: "Play It All Night Long" - Warren singing about Skynyrd singing about Neil About time somebody continued the sequence.

Awesome -I am a huge fan of Gary Numan. I am, however, currently listening to "We have all the time in the world" by the late, great Louis Armstrong. I have never understood the appeal of the later Louis Armstrong as a singer. I mean, in his 20s he was absolutely the most shit-hot trumpet player on the planet - his "Hot Fives and Sevens" box set is among my most treasured albums. But in the sixties he produced that God-awful "What A Wonderful World" and entered Planet Val Doonican. It's horrible MOR cheese. It's like if Jimi Hendrix had lived and gone on to become a working mens' club crooner.

Those two Hendrix posts arrivd simultaneously!

Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) (on the soundtrack of "Withnail And I")

Player power. What if a caucus of "influential" players - let's say Terry, Gerrard, Rooney and the Coles - ALL had a bit of a player revolt? Do you think he'd drop the lot? And if he did, and then lost a critical game, the English press would lynch him. This one could get interesting.

I don't think this is really a left/right argument. On most of those I'd side with Ian and be opposed to Nick, but I have some sympathy with both their viewpoints on this one. On this subject I think we're all affected by our own experiences far more than by "theory". For example, there was a TV discussion roughly on this topic some time ago, with that Dragons' Den bloke Duncan Bannatyne talking about how he had no qualifications but became a millionaire through his entreprenurial skills and hard work. All well and good, but he has a son and he claims he tells him not to bother with school because it's all just a waste of time. That made me cringe, although I expect his son will do fine with Daddy's money and contacts - but what about everybody else? And then there's the question as to what education is FOR. The Thatcherite camp seemed to think it was to provide capable recruits for industry and commerce, but for me that's confusing it with TRAINING - laudable and necessary, yes, but a different thing entirely. It sickened me to hear Charles Clarke when he was education secretary sneering that he couldn't see the point of university subjects such as mediaeval history. I fear that the idea that "some kids just aren't cut out for academic work, let's train them to be brickies" is insidious. It may be true in some cases, but it smacks of the 1950s secondary modern approach. And as the son of unqualified working-class parents who was given - by the 11-plus/grammar school system - the opportunities which they weren't, it sits uncomfortably with me.

Don't like loose boxers, not comfortable in my experience. Snug Y-fronts for work; pants or tight boxers for, er, social occasions.

It just gets funnier: Former Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan has refused to rule himself out of the running to become the new Magpies boss. The 56-year-old, who quit his last job as Manchester City boss in March 2005, told BBC Sport in October that he was unlikely to manage a team again. But following Sam Allardyce's exit last week, he has been linked with a return to the club he managed from 1992-97. He told Sky Sports News: "I'm not ruling myself out or in. It's a club I love, everyone knows that." Former England coach Keegan is currently running his "Soccer Circus" in Glasgow and has been linked with a return to management alongside fellow Newcastle legend Alan Shearer. He was also linked with a return to the club last summer as director of football following Mike Ashley's takeover. But Keegan ruled out that possibility and has since been coaching youngsters in Scotland. When asked if he would manage again he said in October: "I don't think it will happen. I think my life has gone in a different direction. "You never know, I mean I do get offers to go back into football, but I made a decision that I would come and do something different with my life." Keegan took the Magpies to within four points of their first title in nearly 70 years in 1996, when they finished runners-up to Manchester United. BBC

School is HARDER than it was thirty years ago??? You are out of your mind. Have you not seen any of those programs where they put modern kids through a sample of 50s/60s/70s education? My boss was a teacher until very recently and he is adamant that it is many times easier today and standards are way lower. One small example. My daughters have both done A-Level English recently, and weren't even expected to read the whole of their set novels, just a selected couple of chapters. When I did O-Level (GCSE equivalent, mind, not even A-Level) in 1970, our set book was Hardy's "Far From The Madding Crowd", and they expected us to read the whole book - preferably twice - plus as many OTHER Hardy novels we could fit in, for comparison. This was as well as (typically) eight or nine other subjects - in my case French, Latin, maths, physics, chemistry, biology, geography and history - all of which had similar workloads. I'm not saying I think it should be like that now - times change, and rightly so - but don't tell me it was "easier" back then!

Similar experience to me. Maybe it would have been harder if they'd been boys, but my daughters (20 and 18 ) have turned out just fine. We DID administer the very occasional smack when they were small - it can be effective to let them know they've REALLY upset you, but becomes useless if over-used. Never had to do it once they'd started school. They're now bright, confident and happy young women - one at university, one about to go - and great company. How much of that is down to parenting and how much is sheer luck (e.g. living in a decent area, being in a good social group) I'll never know.

Re; door-to-door god botherers... I always used to tell them I was a Satanist. Worth it for the look on their faces just before I shut the door. Although I did make the mistake of inviting two of them in once - two very good looking girls. Lived to regret it though - they were VERY boring and VERY hard to get rid of.

What odds can you get on O'Leary? I'm not a betting man, but I'd be tempted by that one. Very long shot - Brian Little.

GETTING rather silly? It's been **** ludicrous for forty pages now.

Aspirin is arguably the wonder drug of the modern age - used properly it has saved countless lives. I know a couple of stroke survivors who take it daily. In fact my missus takes a quarter of a tablet a day as she has a slightly increased risk of heart disease after radiotherapy. XTC is an unknown quantity, and as BOF rightly pointed out, you never know exactly what you're getting. My suspicion is that it will turn out to be no more and no less dangerous than alcohol - but that's not saying much, alcohol has some pretty nasty side effects, up to and including death. Human beings have alway had a propensity for experimentation with mind-altering substances - I don't think this will ever change - but we each have to decide where we draw the line. The aspirin overdose/suicide argument is specious - that's like saying XTC is safer than a tall building.

BBC Website: "BBC Sport Player Rater man of the match: Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor 7.50 (on 90 minutes)".

Marstons Old Empire IPA (5.7% abv) is my bottled beer discovery of the year. In fact I'm about to open one now. Draught beer of the year has undoubtedly been Copper Dragon Golden Pippin.

Breakfast - tea (with a large slug of whisky - Famous Grouse) Mid morning - beer (Amstel) Pre-lunch - two sherries (Croft Particular) Lunch - Chateauneuf-du-Pape with the turkey, Sauternes with the Xmas pud, port with the stilton, cognac with the coffee Early evening - beer (Marstons Old Empire IPA) Nightcap - more cognac

Swung the OTHER way? Evidence? What Are you ON? (Don't answer that. I know). Well, that sure shows. Could have fooled me. You are forgiven. I just stumbled onto this thread when I noticed it had got to 26 pages. Staggering.

Yes, very good book. I expect it will be filmed as it's so violent. If I knew what would happen o the guy, there's no way I'd take it.

Neil Young - The Emperor Of Wyoming.

I'm so proud.

Right, that's it, gloves off.... Rod Stewart was doing a tour of Germany, and on one of his days off visited a local lunatic asylum as a charitable act. The ward sister showing him around told him that the inmates wanted to set him a challenge - he had to guess what their favourite hobby was. Looking around the ward, he noticed quite a few fishing nets, so he said "Fishing?" The lunatics were highly impressed by this and asked the sister how he knew. She immediately burst into song: "Rod guessed, you Jerry mental men, net-loving you display..."

Perhaps David Bowie should sue them over the title? Making love with his ego Ziggy sucked up into his mind Like a leper messiah When the kids had killed the man I had to break up the band

"Fatwah for Mister Wardle!"

Interesting read Simon.